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My heart sank when I first saw frightened Keith Maupin surrounded by his hostage takers. I’m not sure what this website is about – but I was doing a search on Keith and I can’t find anything about him since they first paraded him as a hostage. Is there any word? Why has he dropped out of the media’s attention? Is Jesse Jackson’s camp negotiating for his release? Is the (Right-Wing run) media burying the story because it’s negative press for the Iraqi war? I worry that if there is no chatter and coverage about him – it’s more likely that “they” will kill him for attention… Any news? Please feel free to email me in case I can’t find this page again.

This site is a weblog (“blog” for short) where I record my thoughts on what’s going on in the world. The War on Terror happens to be a primary focus of mine at the moment.
No news on Keith so far, Bert, though I’m keeping an eye peeled. Sorry. The most pertinent story I could find is at http://www.whiotv.com/news/3242374/detail.html … but it doesn’t indicate any progress on Keith’s status. I don’t think the media’s burying the story (try a search for “Keith Maupin on http://news.google.com to see my point). I’m sure it’ll be front-page news if the enemy either releases or harms Keith, or even if they release another videotape. As for Jesse Jackson … beats me!
If the Army ever gets a good idea of where he’s being held, they’ll send Delta Force in to free him: http://www.specialoperations.com/Army/Delta_Force/default.html
Keep praying.

Also very concerned about Private Maupin’s situation, but more on the basis of genuine abuses in US prisons in Iraq than those dubious photos of British troops. British abuses have happened, but those pictures seem to have been staged.
The prisoners they want to have in exchange for him are in US custody, but hopefully they won’t stoop to threatening or actually inflicting the level of abuse and torture used at Abu Ghraib, elsewhere in Iraq and in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
Glad to see he’s been granted prisoner status under Islamic law by them, and hope that the USA will bring the CIA and their mercenaries under control and begin compliance with Geneva Convention POW rules pronto. If only for his sake.
And future US prisoners, of course.

Well, for the thousands of iraqis, afghans, and others treated like animals by those splendid US free and democratic soldiers, I sincerely hope this Maupin guy will come back home alive, to tell where civilisation is really…
But if his captors, angry and disgusted by what the saw (and the fact that it is a system) rape, beat and torture this guy, I won’t shed a tear.
The US/UK junta will share the entire responsability of his death and tortures.
Please note that this guy is a POW, it wasn’t a kidnapping! US/UK forces aren’t peacekeeping forces nor civilians forces, they are occupation forces in a country still at war, no matter what the monkey in charge of the US could think about it.
Death and terror, like for Vietnam, are the only things understood by USans and friends…It seems that even the Pentagon had forgot it…

Thousands treated like animals? Specifics, please.
You won’t shed a tear if a man is raped, beaten, and tortured … yet you’re upset about what some U.S. soldiers did to their prisoners. Care to explain your inconsistency?

Please, don’t be aggressive, as I’m not myself! I do not want the death of anybody, neither iraqis nor USan, I respect life and I know what war means… I just say that the US invaded a country with no reasons, because no WMD, no alqaeda links. Then, what was wrong with iraqis? I cannot understand how people in the US can say “they treated our men like this with the 9/11 or other attacks( Cole…)”. It wasn’t iraqis! They didn’t attack the US! Maybe even most of them were quite happy, if a bit ashamed, to see the US coming to freed them from Hussein, but look what the US policy did in a year! Total chaos…
And then, we hear that a real system of torture was put in place by the US army and admin. It wasn’t only a few individuals, it wasn’t only in Iraq…
Then, I remember the USans were in the same mood during the Vietnam war, they didn’t say a word against the war until too many USans died, so I undrstood that to stop this occupation and this war, the only way is to see the US suffering more and more casualties. Remember My Lai? Please, have a look on the judiciary aftermath of that sad story, and you’ll figure what I’m trying to say.
Not shedding a tear does not mean I am not upset. Knowing a young guy scared to death and suffering does not make me happy, but who decided that war, and who is able to stop it…?
I don’t wish a death, I wish the end of Iraqis suffering. USans seeing more and more US soldiers or mercenaries dying in Iraq will help the withdrawal of the troops, and maybe will give the world the same 20 years of relative calm we had after the fall of Saigon…When we’ll have the movie about your Jessica Lynch heroic rescue, some others hollywood movies of “poor US blokes fooled by their government and lost in the desert”, then I’ll have more confidence in the future of the world.

I just wanted to say that I have Keith Maupin on my POW bracelet. I got it in Washington. He is in my prayers! I also wanted to know if you have his families adress(e-mail or home) so I could write them and tell them I will be praying for them! Thankx! May God bless America!

I’m sorry to see people getting frustrated with each other when we are all on the side of humanity. I’ve been worried sick about what might happen to Keith and anyone else captured after the disclosure of American brutality at Abu Graib. Whether or not you believe too much is being made of those actions (personally I’m sickened by them), I see no doubt that the real sub-humans used Abu Graib as an excuse to behead Nick Berg. When Jessica and Shoshanna were captured they were treated with respect. Now I’m terrified that the whole Islamic world thinks we’re depraved. Please let’s hold together. Most people, American, UK, Mid-Eastern, every nation – most are humane. Let us be merciful to each other. I’m going to check the Centcom site to see if it has anything about Keith.

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I find it sadly funny that people get so worked up over one person once that person has a name, family, etc… but when dozens or hundreds (or thousands) are killed, made homeless, wrongfully imprisoned, and/or tortured, raped, abused, etc., it is a muted “horror” that shows just the right amount of shock but isn’t accompanied with the same righteous indignation that comes around a single person.
Think about it for a minute. The value we place on individuals with names versus groups of people without names.
When a child is trapped in a well, or undergoing lifesaving surgery, or whatever the media draw is – in come the cameras, the reporters, the millions of dollars spent on “saving” one life. But given that for about $0.17/day you could save a child’s life in the third world, why all the money being spent on a single life?
Becuase it is sensational drama. It’s just getting a fix, people. One life or another – they’re all worth the same, so they’re all worth nothing unless you “know” them.
Just something to think about on a sunday morning…

The fact that we have no news about the young Maupin makes me confident about his faith. I’m quite sure iraqis won’t harm him, at least because they want to show they are different from their ennemies…
It seems that the pics taken about Berg were false…
It seems too that Maupin wasn’t captured by some “terrorists” but by iraqis, so I hope that the elders, and the religious will take care of him, and are dealing with the US for his release…
I sincerely hope he will be release, honestly. He is not responsible of the situation, and I hope he won’t pay for the horrible mistakes and behaviour of the US politicians and commanders.
I just hope the US won’t try to put him as an hero, like private Lynch.
I understand now that the US will try to withdraw from Iraq ASAP, and I imagine that “benador associates” and other PR agencies are looking for the best way to sell you the withdrawal as another US victory. That’s the way things are going, everywhere and everytime…So much blood and suffering for nothing, and civilians are paying the highest price, as usual…
“If they respect temples and gods of the defeated, the conquerors will be saved” Xenophon…
Please, dear US friends, try to find a book called “the skin” (la pelle)from Curzio Malaparte.It is about the liberation of Napoli by the US in 1943.

I was searching google for any updates on PFC Matt Maupin, and I came across this site. Thank you for keeping the plight of Matt on the minds of your friends. Matt is a 20 year old National Guardsman from Batavia, Ohio, on the outskirts of Cincinatti. He has an older sister, LeeAnn, and a younger brother, Micah, who is a Marine. His parents, Carolyn and Keith, are trusting in God, their country, and in Matt. Carolyn started an “Armed Forces Support Group” last year to send care packages to our Troops. There’s a website (http://www.cincinatti.com – enter ‘Maupin’ into their search engine) that is full of info and updates.
Supporters of the Maupin family have also set up a website (http://www.clermontyellowribbon.com) to not only support Matt, but all our other servicemen and women. People across the country and the world are praying for Matt’s safe return. Thank you all for keeping him in your thoughts as well. – Gloria, Tulsa, OK